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Jessica Griggs

We’ve all seen those character charts to fill out when developing a new character. What’s their birthday? What is their favorite song/book/color? The list goes on and on. And while this can be helpful for those just starting out writing characters, what oftentimes happens is that you end up with a list of facts about a character, but you don’t really know them at all.

It’s like you’re facebook friends with your character. You might know who their friends are, what concerts they’ve attended, what memes they find funny, and you get an annoying notification when it’s their birthday, but you don’t really know them as a person.

Instead, Shaelin gives us 4 exercises that really give you a chance to spend time with your character and see how they would react in different situations. The first exercise is to simply write a list of things that remind you of that character. It can be anything from a song to a feeling (i.e., when you tell someone you love them for the first time). Or maybe it’s really random – “those photos you see on Tumblr of girls with the long socks sipping tea and looking out a window.”